LETTER: More support for Cape Breton rail needed

It was with great relief that I read the article in the Cape Breton Post on Sept. 12 entitled “Rumour that almost derailed rail meeting debunked.”

The rumour concerned Nova Scotia MP Scott Brison supposedly making an announcement in Halifax on Sept. 14 of a major federal investment for the port of Halifax.

From Cape Breton’s point of view this would have tipped the scales in favour of Halifax getting the sought after super container ships. Sydney’s dream of a container port would have been dashed and a restored railway would be a very hard sell.

Fortunately, the rumour turned out to be false and no announcement was made.

My relief turned to cautious optimism when a further article appeared two days later in the Post entitled: “The power of positive thinking: Sod turning celebrates Mik’maq role in proposed terminal.”

We don’t have a container port yet and we don’t have an operating railway yet, but I feel more hopeful when I see Membertou Chief Terry Paul throwing his full support behind the project. He hasn’t backed any losers yet.

I attended the Sept. 10 meeting of the Scotia Rail Development Society (SRDS) and come home depressed. I had not heard the rumour before the meeting and figured that if it were true it would be too late to have our concerns strongly made before the announcement. Once the Halifax announcement was made, I thought, morale could drop quickly in Cape Breton and the quest for both port and railway would be much more difficult.

Member of Parliament Mark Eyking was dispatched to make the concerns of the meeting known but he would be representing the concerns of the 100 people at the meeting, not enough to face the giant which is the federal government.

I knew that the general public was not aware of the rumour. The public is quick to respond to a crisis and had they been aware we might have had 1,000 people at the meeting instead of 100. That amount would have made more of an impression on Halifax or Ottawa.

The problem is that we seem to be in crisis all the time and it seems to be imposing a burden to ask 1,000 people to show up for every meeting.

To that end, I have a suggestion. I noticed that with the exception of MLA Tammy Martin, businessman Dannie Hanson and Tim Hayman from Transport Action Atlantic, all individuals who took the microphone were private citizens. None of our community institutions were represented including the university, various churches and labour unions.

If we as citizens prodded all the organizations we belong to into sending official representatives to the railway society meetings we could easily have 5,000 people represented without all having to be present at every meeting. And our institutions should be there. They all have much to win or lose in this struggle. They could also, as organizations, mobilize the rest of us when needed.

The only institution visible was the Cape Breton Post. They had already given a full-page ad and a full editorial as well as a news report.

If we can get all our institutions and organizations to match the Cape Breton Post, we can be ready for any crisis.